Berkeley Meditation & Ananda Yoga

Ananda Yoga and Meditation

What's Special About Ananda Yoga?

Ananda Yoga was developed by Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters), Ananda's founder and author of Ananda Yoga for Higher Awareness. It is based on the training he received from Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic, Autobiography of a Yogi.

Here are some basics of the system

  • Proper alignment and safe technique and adapting the postures to the individual student's abilities and needs are important both for preventing injury and for experiencing the inner dimension of hatha yoga.
  • Choice of Postures: Although we do include some challenging poses, Ananda Yoga is generally less strenuous than many schools of hatha yoga. We've found that extreme exertion does not lead to hatha yoga's deepest benefits.
  • Sequence: The order of postures in an Ananda Yoga routine is designed to help you feel and direct the life force, and to prepare the body to sit for meditation.
  • Transitions into and out of a posture are every bit as important as the way you do the posture itself. We emphasize moving consciously, slowly, and gracefully.
  • Pauses between poses are as important as the poses themselves: a time to allow your body to integrate the effects of the preceding pose.
  • Affirmations: Most of the basic postures are paired with special repeated affirmations designed to help you tune into the specific energy flows, and thus the psychological benefits, that each posture promotes.
  • Energy - Control / Pranayama: In addition to specific breathing techniques for energy control, you will explore something unique among hatha yoga schools: the marvelous Energization Exercises developed by Paramhansa Yogananda.
  • Meditation is essential to experiencing the spiritual dimension of yoga. You will learn how to incorporate effective, classical meditation techniques into your hatha yoga practice.

Ananda Postures Class

Nancy Rakela, LAc, OMD demonstrating a yoga posture with friend   with Nancy Rakela, OMD, LAc

Phone: 510.540.6267
located at 2228 6th Street, Berkeley, CA
Tuesdays 9:00-10:30am;
Ongoing classes, Drop-ins welcome
Drop-in $15 or $48 for 4 classes

Berkeley Ananda Yoga website

Nancy Rakela, OMD, LAc, is a certified Ananda Yoga teacher. She has been teaching yoga and meditation since 1995. She is also a doctor of oriental medicine and licensed acupuncturist in practice for over 20 years specializing in fertility treatment.